Life is beautiful and brutal, tender and terrible — keep your heart open.

Gratitude Friday

1. The first signs of fall. Blooms on my chrysanthemum bush, leaves turning yellow, way more tomatoes than we could possible eat, pumpkins turning orange.

2. Peach season. These are one of the things I ache for come winter.

3. The cold Eric got that I thought I was getting too turned out to not hit me so hard. It was good to have a break on that front for once this summer.

4. Something Good on Wanderlust. It makes me so happy that something I was doing anyway leads to something even better, that people still appreciate it so much.

5. Breakfast with good friends I don’t see nearly enough. Good people who make me want to linger, make me laugh, don’t mind turning our meal into an impromptu life coaching session for me.

Bonus joy: having the means to fix up our house and have work done without worrying, having the time to be able to be here so the people can come do the work, having dogs who will rest mostly patiently in their crates while the work gets done, my favorite plumber Andy, knowing it won’t be too long before the bathroom is all shiny and new and the floors are finally finally refinished even though there’s a lot of work and waiting to do between now and then, talking to my mom on the phone, coming up with a new mac and cheese recipe that uses spinach and tomatoes from the garden and is so tasty I don’t mind eating it for lunch and dinner two days in a row, people who see what I’m doing and get it and appreciate it, sitting in the backyard watching the moths feed from the flowers on the broccoli while the dogs play and a light wind blows, Sam’s foot being hurt again but not too bad and on the mend.

Post navigation

2 thoughts on “Gratitude Friday”

I want to say, on this Gratitude Friday, that I am grateful for you, Jill. In particular, I am grateful for your vulnerability and transparency in writing about your journey with Dexter. I have read many of your entries about him this past week. You have provided an infrastructure for my own grief as I’ve said goodbye to a beloved dog this past week. RIP Jerry, 12-year-old border collie.

Carla, I’m so so so sorry to hear about Jerry. I am glad that you found what I wrote about Dexter, that it was helpful to you. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, that final letting go, and yet I also am fully aware that it’s part of the deal, the love leads to the loss, no matter what we do. ❤